Walberg votes in favor of PLAN Act

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By Matt Durr

Hillsdale.net - Hillsdale, MI

By Matt Durr

Posted Feb. 11, 2013 at 11:21 AM

By Matt Durr
Posted Feb. 11, 2013 at 11:21 AM

Hillsdale, Mich.

matt.durr@hillsdale.net

WASHINGTON — With the annual State of the Union address scheduled for Tuesday night, there is much speculation on what President Obama will focus his message on. This past Wednesday however, Congress once again sent a message to the president calling for plan that balances the budget within 10 years with the passing of the H.R. 444, Require a PLAN Act.

Congressman Tim Walberg voted in favor of the act, continuing his vocal disappointment with the president’s budgeting.

“Unfortunately, the Senate and our president have repeatedly failed at the most basic duty of budgeting. Last year, the President sent Congress a budget that never balanced, while the Senate didn’t have the courage to even introduce their own,” Walberg said in a statement following the vote. “A balanced budget is important to the hard-working taxpayers across Michigan who want to promote a healthy economy and opportunity for the next generation.

“Although the president’s budget is already late this year, we’ve giving him an opportunity to get it right. Together we can produce solutions that get our nation’s debt crisis under control and our budget balanced.”

The bill has passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 253-167. Two hundred twenty seven Republicans and 26 Democrats voted in favor of the bill, which will now go on to the Senate for approval.

Many Republicans have been critical of the administration for having failed to submit a budget proposal to Congress in four of the last five years. If passed, the bill would force the president to submit a budget that balances within 10 years, or provide a supplemental budget plan identifying when the federal budget would balance.

“At some point Washington has to deal with its spending problem,” said House Speaker John Boehner R-Ohio. “Washington desperately needs some adult leadership. We believe there’s a better way to lower the deficit, but Americans do not support sacrificing real spending cuts for more tax hikes.”

The bill however is not expected to pass in the Democrat-controlled Senate.